


A Sweet Voice

by Kamy2425



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Other, Post-Canon, Thiefshipping, Yu-Gi-Oh Season Zero, ygotas-inspired
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-07
Updated: 2016-05-09
Packaged: 2018-05-31 20:57:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 17,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6487159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kamy2425/pseuds/Kamy2425
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Taking place after the events of the Ceremonial Duel, Bakura has reached the Afterlife and has even found someone to keep him company on his stay there: Ryou's sister, Amane Bakura! However, this Paradise is seem unfitted for the Thief King himself, as he tries to find a way to get back to the Living.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Emptiness

…. A dark void.

That’s all there is. Yet, in the center of it all, there laid a man with a red robe floating in an empty world of pure black.

What was he doing?

What was the last thing he remembered?

Pieces of memories began to form around the empty vessel of flesh:

_Sand…sand forming from his nails as his body began to disintegrate into little particles of rock…a voice deep within the shadows laughing at the unfortunate soul of dust._

The Thief King opened his eyes and his body began to glow. As he tried to recollect his thoughts, Bakura looked around the darkness. His body started to tremble not out of fear, but because his body demanded it. His shaken hand began to rise and covered the man’s mouth. The thief finally managed to speak his first words,

"...I lost."

An odd grin spread across his face, tears begun to fall from his bright amethyst eyes.

The souls of his people that had been trapped in the Millennium Items have been finally put to rest. They were now free, yet something in his soul still clutched for the blood of the Pharaoh. The itchiness, the Tick that has been guiding and influencing the thief to his obsession…was still there. Whispering thoughts and hellish screams still lingered inside him. _Soon the Gods will judge his soul, and with this creature sharing part of him will result in his demise._

A door of light opened.

A large being came out of the massive beam of light. Its face could not be distinguished nor looked at, but its arms has extended in front of Bakura as it opened one of his hands in front of the thief’s chest. Bakura couldn’t move or even process what was happening. A swirl of shadows began to form around the being’s palm as it’s been exported out of Bakura’s. A black flame floated in front of the thief and had taken form of that of a soul. Yet, its colorless features and odd blotches of black surrounding it, made it unrecognizable. _So that’s my soul, I suppose_ , the thief thought, as he tried to make sense out of everything that was happening. _Thought it would be bigger, since I did made a large mess of everything really_ , he shrugs (or at least in his mind he did, since his body was unable to move). The god that stood before him observed this odd tainted soul in his hands. Soon, the god pointed at the soul as its hand began to turn white.

…. The god began to rip the soul apart.

Bakura has finally regained control of his body, but wished he didn’t. Every time the god striped away a piece of his dark soul, was a stab in the chest for Bakura. One by one, the hand dug deep within the soul of Bakura as it craved to find something of worth. A voice deep within his body took hold, ordering the god to stop; an inhuman voice, a voice that was owned from a creature born from Darkness itself. And as the soul began to shrink, the voice receded as well.

“STOP IT! Stop…”

Bakura’s voice finally took control of his body. Yet, it was the only thing he managed to do, as his body has become weak and his eyes shut closed.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Even in the dark, Bakura could see a light from his closed eyes. As he tried to open them, what he saw is a portion of his soul that had been left by the god. It was small, much smaller than pebble, yet it glew beautifully in white flames.

“That’s…mine?” asked Bakura as he stared at the weak light in front of him. His hands extended towards it, holding it with care onto his chest. The door grew, as its light began to cover the void in white. Suddenly, Bakura realized that the door wasn’t getting bigger. Instead, it was taking him in.

He couldn’t feel anything, neither pain nor voices influencing to keep forward. He could not feel the darkness of his heart anymore. And as the light consumed the thief, he gave one last word before leaving the Darkness,

 _You_ lost..."


	2. Who are you?

He was walking. Didn’t know where he was going, and didn’t know what happened for what it looks like hours has passed. Bakura remained to walk forward in a straight line and never looking back. His whole body was functioning as if it was set on autopilot, for his mind remained blank. But as he slowly took over, the room began to be clear. He could hear mumbles, he could see figures around him moving in the same direction as him, he could even feel a cold breeze at the end of the path.

The voices became clear and Bakura managed to hear someone at the front of the line. His or her voice was annoying; it was loud and made an echo effect. Yet, as the figure spoke, Bakura managed to catch different languages been played at the same time.

“Alright stand clear everybody, we know there’s no much room here right now, but that doesn’t mean you can push each other.”

As Bakura looked around, he saw people of different origins. None was distinguishable to Bakura, but as he tried to dig deep within his memories to find any face of his village, a shriek within him blocked him. Bakura collapsed, and people begun to move around him.

_Damn it…DAMN IT DAMN IT DAMN IT!_

Bakura fisted at the ground several times. He could not get past the shriek, nor get closer to remember any faces of Kul Elna. _Why couldn’t he?_

“Sir, do stand up. The door is about to close.” The Guide held the thief’s arm to help him stand up. Bakura remained his gaze on the ground as the figure continued to speak. “Any nausea or sickness that you’re experiencing will recover as soon as you step outside” assured the Guide. They walked a few steps until reaching the other side. As Bakura managed to move one foot over the other, the Guide waved behind him,

“Do enjoy your stay.”

And just like that, the door closed behind him. Bakura raised his head and for the first time, he saw a place. Not a room of total darkness or a hallway of pure white. The sky was mixes of purples and blues, and clear grassy hills everywhere. The land was covered in beautiful yet odd-looking plants not from Earth. However, the rich peaceful landscape was not enough to bring sense into Bakura. His mind was elsewhere, thinking what has become of him. He could not even hear someone calling to him.

“Hey, I know you!”

Bakura remained blank and ignored the voice from behind. He moved forward to find a place to rest. A place where he could be alone… as he was used to doing through all these years.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

From up a hill, a lone tree sat in the middle of the ground, which was a perfect place to rest. Shit, Bakura thought as he forgot to mark the tree for how many days he thinks it has passed. Bakura didn’t remembered how much he slept, since he realized that there was no concept of time in this realm.

“Hey! I’ve been looking all over for you!”, cried a voice. Bakura opened his eyes and saw a small person throwing pebbles at him, “Prepare yourself!”

The rocks proved ineffective, but only managed to hit Bakura’s patience. Bakura stood up and held on the wrist of the child from stopping its attacks.

“Let me go! I’ll tell Mom on you!” threatened the child, in which Bakura smirked in response, “Don’t you mean, ‘ _or_ I’ll tell my mom?’” The kid held out her tongue, “I know what I meant”.

Bakura laughed maniacally as he walks to the edge of the hill with the kid in hand. The child stopped to struggle when she realized that the Egyptian was about to drop her off the hill. “How’s a brat like you ended up here anyways?” asked the thief, in which the child responded mockingly, “Same thing applies to you, Ring Ghost!”

The name shocked Bakura and his hand lost its hold on the child. Luckily, he manged to grabbed her in time and dropped her besides him. Bakura watched this strange child standing up, brushing whatever dirt was caught on her yellow dress.

“What…did you call me?”

“Don’t play dumb with me, I know who you are, so _you_ know who I am!”

The child had her hand clutched on her hips as Bakura tried to make sense of this. She looks around 9 or 12 years old. She wore a bright yellow dress with a red ribbon around her neck. Her hair is white but with a hint of green, and her voice…while sweet, had an irritating mouth that was enough to piss him off.

The child was obviously waiting for Bakura to name her. Yet, he remained blank for a long period of time. Her face turned from annoyed to an expression of fear, as she felt she did not existed within the thief’s world. She puts her head down and reached something within her pockets of her dress. Her voice was now quieter.

“Well…I don’t think we actually met face to face but…” she raised her hand at Bakura, revealing an opened letter, “I heard much about you through _his_ writing”.

Something in Bakura _clicked_ and knew right away the identity of this child,

“…. You’re Amane.”

The girl was lost in words for a second, but then her face lit up at the thief’s discovery. Bakura did not expressed the same reaction, and instead took a step behind him as he tried to walk away from the child. _You must be kidding me. No way in Hell is this kid here with me!_

Memories came flooding back at Bakura, the times with Ryou Bakura, whose name he stole. Going through the times he manipulated him, the times where he felt dominant and in control would have felt as a fun nostalgia trip for the thief. Yet, the feelings he felt going through those memories again, had a strong taste of guilt on his tongue. His hands clutched tightly against this new feeling. Crimson liquid poured from his palm as Amane noticed, “Hey, you’re hurting yourself…”. Bakura looked over his hand, he did not feel the pain or the blood he caused. The wound in his hand quickly vanished in sight. He responded in bitter anger,“…What is this?”

“You can’t really hurt or die here. We’re in the Afterlife, silly-”

“FUCK!”

Amane backed away, remembering the descriptions that Ryou had left her about the Spirit standing in front of her. Her body shook in fear, yet she uttered one last sentence to the thief.

“You really shouldn’t be here…”

"GO AWAY!"

Bakura swung his arm to try to scare the girl. Amane’s eyes begun to pour as she ran away from the Spirit. Bakura was left standing on the hill alone. His hand was rubbing the other of where the wound was supposed to sit.

“…I really _shouldn’t_ be here…”


	3. Name it

_It happened again. Ryou timed it; he had lost consciousness for 1 hour straight. He went to his journal, and wrote on it to keep track of these events. And like those events, it ended with Ryou finding out another one of his friends in a coma at the hospital. It couldn’t be a coincidence; something inside him must have done this._

_“Ryou, Dinner’s ready!” shouted his mom from the kitchen. If he was right, then whatever had been droving him to cause these events might soon happen to someone more closely to Ryou._

_“Amane is going to steal your food if you’re not coming over soon, Ryou!”_

_What could happen next? Will his mother be in a coma too? And what about his sister? He couldn’t risk it. He couldn’t be any way close to them. “Please”, whispered Ryou, “Please, whoever you are. Whatever is doing this…please don’t hurt them. Not my mother, and especially not Amane…I’ll play along, but please…not them”._

_Something in his chest began to pound, unawared that the source of all this was from the Millennium Ring that Ryou obsessedly wears. And in an instant, Ryou had lost consciousness yet again._

_He woke up and looked at the clock, only 3 minutes has passed. Pages of his journal begun to turn from the wind of the opened window Ryou didn’t pulled. He turned to the next blank page for him to write, but soon found out sets of letters in a different handwriting:_

**If you care for your Sister and Mother so much,**

**Then perhaps the more logical choice is to move out,**

**Right? HEHEHEHE**

**Signed,**

**You**

**(Probably)**

Bakura woke up, another dream from his Host again. Yet, he wondered why memories of his past in Egypt weren’t being replayed in his head. He even remembered the time he wasn’t able to control Ryou’s body yet. Seeing a weak child constantly bullied by others and still trying to smile all the time. Amane was a toddler back then, a weird creature whose life of cheer and optimism has led the Spirit in disgust.

The thief rose from his tree and tried to explore the realm around him. There was no one in sight for Bakura, but as his thoughts begun to think of a certain child, she soon appeared. Amane was over the flower field picking up plants that appealed the young child. Bakura didn’t move, he didn’t know what to say or do. He was able to easily adapt any new situations thrown at him. Yet, this atmosphere or something within him had made him feel confused. It startled him even more when Amane soon turned around to see him.

Amane was startled at first, due to their last encounter. But as she gave a moment to think, she asked “Were you thinking of me just now?” Bakura was puzzled of what the child was asking and remained silent. Amane sighed and proudly explained to the thief. “Here, if you think of someone, you’ll find them quicker.” Bakura processed the new rule that has been explained to him. He grinned, “So, if I think of a certain…Pharaoh, will he appear?” Amane stopped his smile, “Not unless he doesn’t want to see your face”.

While it was good news that the Pharaoh will never see him again, Bakura felt disappointed that he won’t be able to punch his face. Bakura crossed his arms and looked away.

"Shit."

“Hehehe” Amane giggled at the man’s usage of what she labeled as a no-no word. She walked around the thief, settling on his line of vision. “Hey, so…what do I call you?” the child asked, in which the thief responded quickly without a thought, “Bakura”. 

Amane puffed her cheeks and sticked her tongue at Bakura, which he couldn’t deny, it was oddly cute. And while he did tried to upset the child, Bakura realized that his true name was hidden even from himself at the moment. Amane thought for a compromise, as she found no answer from the thief. Her smile widened for the greatest idea she has ever come up with.

“I’ll just call you Kura!” 

Bored from listening to the child, Bakura ignored Amane’s new name for himself and moved back to his tree up the hill. Amane watched as the thief settled down to his base and closed his eyes for his next slumber; as it was the only way he could ignore this strange world.

_Good night, Kura._

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_“Well…I’m leaving”, said Ryou as he held up his luggage. Mom was repeating things he might have missed: Toothbrush, phone, socks- Ryou assured her of everything and that the boy would do fine on his own. He bent over, and took one last look at his sister. Amane spoke, “ Do I get to keep your room?” Ryou smiled and patted Amane’s head, messing her hair in the process, “…Yes”_

_“And you’ll write to me right? Every week, right?”_

_The honk of the taxi car rang impatiently. Ryou stood up and walked away. He turned to his mom and sister and gave them their last good bye._

_“Yes, I promise.”_


	4. Challenge

He was having a flashback dream again. This time, Ryou was living alone in his apartment. The walls were holding onto his weight, as he stood there petrified with the phone in hand. A voice was heard from the other end, and through the screen of the phone box, the caller ID labeled the word _Dad_ in bright green letters.

 _Hello?_

_Ryou?_

_Are you there?_

_...Hello?_

Bakura remembered this scene word for word. It was the time he saw his landlord feeling the most vulnerable at his father’s words about the incident. So weak and pathetic, that the Spirit could not even find the satisfaction to take over his Host’s body, feeling that it would be poor sportsmanship.

_Kuuuuraaaa~_

Huh? 

A voice not from the dream seemed to have put the scene to a stop. The voice repeated its attempt at calling to him through song.

 _Kura Kura Kura~_

_Are you there, Fluffy?_

The room begun to disintegrate and Bakura was on the edge of waking up. The floor rumbled and started to crack. A black hole appeared from below and was about to absorb the thief down, when suddenly-

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_Poke!_

Bakura woke up to see Amane pressing her finger on the tip of his nose.

“Don’t you have some shitty kid stuff you should be doing?” asked Bakura, annoyed that this child woke him from one of his odd dreams. Amane remained still, her face fixated on Bakura as she creepily took a long stare.

“What?”

“…You’re like a Grumpy version of Ryou”

Bakura growled at the idea that any sentence that came out of that brat’s mouthalways leaving him confused. The only thing he could do now was just to ignore it completely.

“What do you want?” 

Amane extended her arms and showed him an unopened letter, “Ryou-chan sent me a letter today, do you want to read it together?” Bakura looked away, “No”. And just like the thief, Amane decided to ignore his response and opened the letter. She took an exaggerated deep breath, but stopped when Bakura snatched the letter from her and read it with his voice:

_Dear Amane,_

_School is getting a bit difficult. Everything that has happened after the Pharaoh’s farewell has been…odd. I can’t sleep very well, I been having some weird dreams lately. Anyways, hope you’re doing well. Love you!_

Sincerely,

Ryou-chan

Bakura smirked at his Host’s politeness still been presented through his writing. _Though, if his previous landlord was experiencing dreams…dreams that might seem odd just like how the thief was having…_ His thinking was cut short as Amane continued reading the letter:

_P.S If in the tiny itsy bitsy chance that the Spirit of the Ring is there (which I hope he isn’t) Tell him I hate him! (Sorry I’m not feeling very well lately) Okay, love you! Bye!_

Bakura jumped at the mentioning of his name by his Host, “Wait, what did he say?” Amane scanned the letter for a second time and answered to the thief with the silliest smile, 

“He tells you to piss off!”

“That son of a-”

Something inside Bakura made him to stop. He realized that this child was repeating…no, stealing some of his posture and gestures recently. And frankly, he found it creepy to hear a sweet voice like hers using poisonous words that he loves to say…His words. He looked at Amane in a displeasing glare. A happy and impatient Amane was waiting for what kind of words would the thief come up with next.

"...Shoot" 

Amane was disappointed for Bakura’s cheap PG insult. While Bakura felt annoyed from resisting using his usual words, Amane’s discouraged face made it worth it. And with that, Bakura realized something. He didn’t really belonged here; he already knew that. But if he were to stay here, Bakura must find a way to make this place more bearable for himself. Bakura picked up Amane and held her on his side like luggage. Amane didn’t struggled, but was very curious of the thief finally leaving his usual spot.

“Where are we going, Kura?”

“I’m going to teach you to steal.”

"Why?"

“Because I’m _bored_. There’s nothing much to do here anyways.”

Amane watched the thief as he continued to walk forward. She felt concerned over her new playmate, but the thoughts of all the fun things they could do encouraged the child.

“Okay, cool!”

They left the lone tree and went down from the hill. Bakura and Amane walk down the rows of flowers until their bodies became distant from sight. The two of them ready to start their adventures of mischief and make this Afterlife fun.


	5. Partnership

Two males were sitting on a log outside of a cave. One guy in particular carried 3 tiny bags on his belt tied with a string. Through the fields, a young man appeared, he was short in height compared to the two men. His scar on his right cheek and muscular feature almost hidden within his red robe, caused the men to be cautious of this stranger. Yet, as the young man approached, he spoke in a gentle and friendly tone.

 

“Hello friends. I’m terribly sorry to bother you, but I’m kind of new here in this-”

 

“Ah, say no more pal, it takes a while to get used to the Afterlife.”

 

The men proved to be very welcoming of the young-looking thief. Which didn’t surprised Bakura, seeing as it’s these kinds of people that made them to be here in the first place. Bakura looked around them, his eyes fixated on something moving behind the two men. He continued his act, “So um…where exactly are the bathrooms?” The men laughed at the boy and correct him how there’s no need in looking for one.

They began explaining and listing a whole set of rules on what seized to be in this world. Bakura nodded at every word that the men said, hiding his true disinterest in the conversation. Suddenly, Bakura heard a loud thump from afar. The three turned around to the source of the sound and saw Amane holding the stolen sacks.

“Hey, what do you think you’re doing?!” exclaimed the owner of the stolen items. Amane quickly tried to recover from the fall and extended her arm as she laughed manically, “I am the Thief Princess, and I have stolen your stuff! Hahaha!” she ran away. Due to the fall, Bakura knew the men would be close enough to catch her, so he had to quickly change tactics, “I’ll go after her!”

The men stayed put as they watched Bakura rushing to Amane. He tackled her to the ground, soft enough not to cause any harm on his accomplice. Amane laughed through the whole encounter, unable to hold on the role. “Don’t laugh you idiot!” exclaimed Bakura, as he instructed her to run away. Amane stood up and whispers to the thief before leaving, “Bye, Kura.” It was Bakura’s turn to stand up as he keeps an eye on Amane from afar. He gave out a soft grin on his face. Even when the plan took an unexpected turn, the girl was still enjoying their little heist…it…reminded him of someone.

Bakura quickly snapped out of his thoughts and returned to the men, holding one of the bags that he stole back. “Sorry, I could only grabbed one…” he apologized in the best innocent face he could put. The men thanked the thief for his attempt and went inside the cave.

Bakura quickly ran towards the flower fields and looked around for the child. Her height was small enough to hide within the fields, in which even the Thief King himself couldn’t manage to find her. Suddenly, she jumped from behind Bakura and attempted to scare him.

“BWAH!”

…Bakura didn’t jumped or even move, he just stared at Amane in annoyance. She raised the stolen bag to her partner, “Look, we did it!” in which Bakura responded, “We could have made it with 3 bags, but _someone_ tripped!”Amane made her excuse,

“Hey, you try to run with these shoes!”

“Then take them off when you _do_!”

Amane sticked out her tongue and puts both hands on her hip, which was a reoccurring gesture of the kid.

“But then I won’t look fabulous when I’m running!”

Bakura puts his hand on his forehead. He couldn’t feel any headache due to the new conditions of this world, yet he believed he had. _Shit, she’s acting like Marik now…_

Bakura took out his stolen bag from his robe and opened it. He was surprised to find colorful rocks falling from the sack. “W-what is this?!” the thief asked, as Amane quickly tried to grabbed them from the ground as Bakura looked inside the bag for any hidden pockets or… _something!_

“These are worthless!”

Amane questioned the thief, “What do you mean? These are pretty! We use them for trading and stuff”. Bakura sat on the ground in defeat and inspected the next sack. He felt softness inside, only one item. He took it outside, revealing a pure white lotus on his palm. While Bakura remained annoyed by the uselessness of the flower, Amane was in shock. She sat closer to Bakura and examined the lotus.

“Why are you surprised? You’ve seen plenty of flowers here.”

“This is an Earth plant, Kura! It’s unique!”

Bakura looked down at the lotus again. It’s true that the flowers in this realm are… _odd_. Everything around this place had been given him a sickness in his eyes. As he sees the White Lotus for a second time, he realized how much of the real world he ignored due to his obsession of revenge. And now this plant, which is part of the world he took for granted, is the only item that he had of home.

He looked to see Amane, who was just been staring at the flower much more than the thief. He sighed, _I can’t believe I’m doing this…_ Bakura lent Amane the white flower, in which Amane made a confusing glare. Bakura looked away, “It’s a thief code: If we’re partnering up, its only fair we share the bounty 50/50. I’ll take the other bag.”

“You….you really mean it, Kura? I can have it?”

            Bakura was still trying not to make any eye contact with the child, and just nodded in return. He wasn’t expecting for the kid to tackle him and embraced him with a hug. “Thank you, Kura!” exclaimed Amane. He thought the hug would burn him, as a demon cleansed in holy water. The hug did felt warm, but proved to be more comforting than being painful. Bakura felt odd being chained around the arms of this child.

It’s been…years. He tried to think when was the last hug he received. He saw a glimpse of an older faceless woman crouched down at eye level, light illuminating behind her. She extended her arms around him, and her image faded from his vision.

He snaps back and looked at Amane, who is still hugging the thief. He didn’t know what to do, so he thought the most logical choice is to copy Amane’s embrace. Yet, his arms did not cooperated and the thief was left feeling indebted as the child released him.

“Mom might be worried about me, I’ll see you soon okay?”

The thief weakly nodded in return, still feeling a bit dazed from the vision. Amane runs towards the hills, waving goodbye to Bakura as she did. The thief was left alone yet again, unable to understand what was happening to him.


	6. The Return of the Crown

_Dear Amane,_

_Today marks a year after the Ceremonial Duel, you remember that right? Anyways, this day seems awful odd for some reason. I can’t really explain it to you. Marik called out of nowhere, I didn’t really expected it (How did he get my number…I have no idea). He didn’t really kept contact with anybody in Domino. He seems to be calling me each week, but seems to hang up before I get to respond. I guess he doesn’t know phones can text! (Hehehe, now he has to respond) I’ll write to you what happens._

_Love you!_

_Ryou-chan_

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Amane read the last letters on the page and couldn’t help but giggle. She looked up at Kura, who just snatched the letter from her to read it. His face seems to be really focused on the letter, scanning for any hidden subtexts. He went to his tree and scratched a mark on the bark with a sharp rock he keeps in his pocket. Bakura showed no hints of expression, and counted the other marks that had been placed on the tree previously. “Hmmm…I guess he _does_ write to you weekly.” Said Bakura as he analyzed and checked the marks one more time. Amane couldn’t help but feel some sort of hostility in her friend’s voice. “A year…” Bakura whispered to himself, as he seemed to forget that Amane was there with him. It felt like only 2 weeks had passed here in the Afterlife… _but a year?_ While Bakura tried to process this, Amane was moving her body back and forth in a little dance, feeling a bit impatient. The girl had something on her tongue, something she really wanted to ask Kura since they met. Though, Bakura left a really bad first impression. But today demanded her to break the boundary line.

 

“Marik…that’s the guy that calls you Fluffy, right?”

 

Bakura jumped. His hair antennas had picked up the child’s sentence word for word. His previous empty expression…gone! Now what Amane saw was a hilarious scared little kitten. He tries to ask Amane as to how and why, but every single word in his mouth stumbled as the shock seemed to have made a long lasting impact to the thief. He stopped for a moment, took a deep breath and exhaled as he found the most logical conclusion.

 

“Ryou told you.”

 

“Well, _duh_. Actually, he doesn’t tell me much about you two. But, I’m not dumb to know what _is_ happening between you two~”

Bakura didn’t like the tone Amane used, it made him feel almost being pushed to a corner. It caused him to respond without thinking. Which made the Thief King to make the mistake to correct the child. 

“ _Was_.” 

“Huh?” asked Amane, “Why…oh.” the little girl looked down and clutches her hands on her dress, feeling a bit embarrassed for bringing this up. They stayed there for what feels like an hour has passed, no one saying anything. Bakura has walked to the other side of the hill and gazing at the sky. Amane copied the thief’s breathing technique he previously did and walks sheepishly to Kura. She tried again,

 

“So…why steal his leather pants?”

 

Kura snorted and started to laugh at the unexpected question. It scared Amane for a second, but saw that Bakura was genuinely laughing. He raised his hand on his head, “I have no idea. It sounded like a good plan at the time, I guess.” Amane stared at him and responds, “You guys are idiots…” Amane saw Kura chuckling at her words,“ _I guess we were...”_

_“Were…”_ Amane repeats her friend’s use of past tenses for a second time. Suddenly, she had enough and pushed Kura with all her might. It didn’t really do much, but the thief was angry,

 

 “What the hell?!”

 

“So you’re just giving up?”

 

Bakura sighed, knowing fully well that the child’s stubbornness was going to cause this situation to be more annoying than it already was. Unfortunately, Kura has the same stubbornness.

 

“What? You mean in getting out of here? Leave the Afterlife?”

 

Amane shuts any argument she had planned. She felt useless in cheering up her friend, and had made it worst. Bakura stood up from the spot and whispered his last words before leaving, “…it’s impossible”.

Kura has moved to another spot on the hill, which Amane followed and sat next to the thief. She grabbed the White Lotus that she carried with her always _._ She rubbed one of its petals gently before getting the enough courage to speak. “I…may have not met him before…but, I don’t think the Thief King would say that.” Kura was not making eye contact, but as he felt something soft, he looked down to see the lotus on his palm.

 

“I’m sure he always finds a way…”

 

Kura had been staring at the lotus for a long time. He guessed Amane gave it to him as a way to cure him of his home sickness. _How could this plant be considered unique, anyways? Sure, he hasn’t seen other Earth plants in his time in this realm. And of course, plants don’t end up in the afterlife after it dies, or he’ll be seeing more here. How could it come here? Who or what could have…_ And then, the Thief King rose up from the ground, “Of course!”

 

Amane was left confused over the sudden change of emotion, “What? What is?” Kura felt alive again, different routes of possibilities being played out around his head; matching any connections and elements that he observed on his time here, things that might help him…

“Kura, what is?” asked the forgotten child, angry to be left out of the realization of the Thief King. Kura stopped his web of thoughts and crouches down towards her little companion, his signature grin showing across his face.

 

“The Thief King is going to cheat life, once again.”

 

“Really?!”

 

Kura took the white lotus and ties it on the side of Amane’s head, “really.”

Amane was content and excited for whatever plan or scheme might the thief come up. She already decided that the Thief King _will_ achieve his goal in the end.

“So you’re gonna visit Marik when you do, right?”

Kura thought for a second, “hmmm, I don’t _know_ ” said in a mocking tone. “The guy DID gave the Pharaoh my ring and the rod. I don’t think I have forgiven him for that yet.” Amane started to giggle, her excitement overwhelming her,

“Well, you can always visit him and slap him across the face! Or…you can just hug him…?”

Bakura grinned at Amane’slittle plan.Both having the same idea, both grinning deviously.

 

“Or I could do both.”


	7. Chapter 7

 

“I made a fic about you two.”

“Oh Gods…”

Amane was so excited to bring out a mountain of papers onto Bakura’s lap. He tried to take a peek over on one of the titles: “School Crush”. Kura immediately droppped the story down as if it was burning in his hand. The writer quickly grabbed the paper and gave her friend puppy eyes, “Please read it? I never met you guys so I don’ really think I got your characters right”. Bakura sighed, “You know…thiefshipping is bad for you.” Amane was silent and slowly gave him a grin across her face. She was taking no for an answer.

Bakura sighed again and decided to read the first sentence of School Crush:

 

_…Bakura takes a hard look at the student sitting in class, “When is Sempai going to-“_

 

“NO! Nononono. No.No.No.” Bakura stopped the story and refused to look at any of them. Amane was disappointed, “Please Kura, it’ll help on my writing…” Bakura looked over the puppy-eyed child once again, a secret weapon against the thief.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Without even realizing it, Bakura had read over 10 thiefshipping stories made by the 12 year old. Amane waited in anticipation for what her friend would think of it.

“Why are they all so…fluffy? And how come most of them are set in high school?”

“Well…I did tried to make a pirate fantasy one but-”

“THESE ARE CRAP!”

“Well, you try to write one!”

“Write one? I’m living in one!”

Amane couldn’t take a straight face anymore and started to laugh. Bakura’s face was flushed with the same color of his robe. “What?” the thief asked as he tried to understand the mockery of the child. Amane kept laughing, unable to control herself, “WHAT?”

Amane tried to breath and finally was able to answer to Kura, “You…hehehe, you said you’re living in one…” Bakura was still not getting it, “Yeah, so?”

“So your story hasn’t ended yet, has it?”

Bakura took a second to think. He started to grin and joined in the laugh, “I guess not”.

 

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Amane had tried to copy Bakura’s napping behavior as she rested her back against the tree. Bakura however, was still reading the girl’s fanfictions. He couldn’t stop reading them, even if they were far too silly from his reality. There was this sense of calmness that helped the thief not to think about his own.

He was just about done with the last of Amane’s stories. Apparently, she had finally discovered how to make suspense. He read the short summary that Amane writes before each chapter: _In this scene, Bakura will make one last attempt to confess his true feeling for Marik._

The Thief King giggled at that line as he tries to turn over the next page:

 

_Bakura was on the roof, waiting for Marik to show up for their “Crime Meeting”. As Marik arrives, he waits an answer from his partner. Yet, Bakura was struggling to get his true words out. Instead, it led him to say how much he hates him._

_“I hate you!”_

_“Really? THAT’s what you wanted to say to me on the roof? We have cellphones you know.”_

_“Shut up, Ishtar! I hate you, and your tattoos suck!”_

 

Hmm, Ryou must have told Amane a different story about Marik. But Bakura remained unmoved from his spot, as he wondered on how the story would end. Will Amane really going to leave it like that or-

 

_Suddenly, a light appears in the sky. It was a beautiful Goddess with a beautiful shiny white dress. Her booming voice yells out, “I am Amane, the Thiefshipping Princess!”_

 

…What?

 

_“With my magic wand, I fix you Kura, now you can say whatever your heart wants you to say! Which couldn’t be said before because you are dumb!” Bakura turns to his partner, his eyes filled with confident as he says, “I love you, Marik Ishtar!” which Marik responds, “I love you too, Fluffy!”_

_And then they get married and lived happily ever after!_

_The End!_

Bakura tried to contain his chuckles at the silliness of her contrived plot device at the end. He stood up from his spot and sat next to Amane, who was still in a deep sleep. Kura saw one of her hairs stuck too close on her eyelids, which caused her to twitch her nose. Kura slowly used his finger to brush off the irritating hair strand and Amane resumed her peaceful slumber.

“You had to put yourself in it, didn’t you?” Bakura asked quietly so not to disrupt her sleep. He sighed over the piles of paper that he had spent countless hours reading. All the Ever-After’s, and all the conflicts resolved in a tidy red bow. He smiled one last time as he prepared his body for another nap.

“If only was that simple…”


	8. Connection

_“Another dream again…great. What could this one be- Oh no”. Before, Bakura was just an spectator of Ryou’s memories, but now he was his Host. He couldn’t move like he wanted; the body was playing the role that was given to it. He could feel every single thought and emotions that Ryou was feeling. He was in a graveyard, standing in front of two labeled stones. Bakura extended his manipulated hand and took out a lighter from his coat. The other hand took out a closed letter labeled: To Amane._

_Click! Ryou sparked the lighter and burned the letter hanging on his fingers. He rested it on the top of the tombstone with the most colorful flowers. He stood there, waiting to see the letter disintegrate completely._

_“It won’t reach her…”_

_“Huh?” Ryou looked behind him, but couldn’t find the source of the voice. He reached for his Millennium Ring, rubbing it for good luck between his two fingers. “It will reach her…” Ryou whispered to the mysterious voice, “It has to…”_

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Shit!” Kura exclaimed, as he returned to Amane after investigating the cave, no luck finding the previous owners of the lotus flower. He needed to find how such an Earth plant got here in this realm. Because if he could find even the smallest little hint of a link between the Earth and the Afterlife… _then he could use it as a path get back to the Living…_

“They aren’t here.” Amane looked around them, “Maybe we could find somebody else, most people don’t really stay in one place”.

“Well, I’m not most people.” Kura answered, in which Amane giggled in agreement, “You do sleep a lot”. Kura was annoyed, and couldn’t let the child get the last word. So he did what he could and just pushed her, leaving Amane to fall down on the soft flowerbed. Kura didn’t imagined for the push to be enough to throw her down, and looked a bit concern over the child’s well being. Yet, as he saw Amane spitting out grass from her mouth, Bakura couldn’t help but laugh at the poor child.

“Maybe I can ask my mom,” said Amane, in which Kura snarled in response as the child continued. “It’ll just be a moment…” Amane waited for Kura to nod, but he remained unresponsive. Amane decided to walk away from Bakura as she began to think of her mom. Bakura looked at Amane from afar, her mom immediately showed up from behind a hill. Bakura sat down on the log outside the cave, looking over the two chatting and hugging each other.

 _Ryou would feel very jealous of me right now_ , Bakura thought. _Congrats by the way, they DO reach her. Heh, I guess I was wrong…_

Amane said goodbye to her mom and rushed to Kura. “What did she say?” he asked, in which Amane responded, “She says she doesn’t know anything, but wishes you good luck!” Bakura looked at the mother from afar, he couldn’t quite pick it up right…but he saw her giving him the I’m-watching-you face (Complete with the hand gestures). Bakura returned the message with an uncaring hand wave before the mother left the scene.

 _“Great…_ who can we call next?”

“Maybe you can try.”

“Huh?”

Bakura remained still at Amane’s suggestion. He thought for a moment and finally replied, “I can’t.” Amane looked confused, “You don’t know anybody? Not even your mom or-“

“I CAN’T!” Bakura yelled, which made Amane to back away from the thief. Bakura caught his outburst this time and tried to give her a better answer, “Everytime I try to remember them, it hurts my head. This…this _shriek_ , its blocking me from even remember my own mother.”

“It… _hurts_?”

“Yes.”

Amane looked around and found a stick, she returned to sit next to Bakura. “Here, maybe we can try it together, what does she look like?” asked Amane, as she rests one end of the stick on the ground, ready to draw. Bakura sighed and gave her the cold shoulder. Amane started to draw the base of a person, “Hmm, maybe your mom looks like mine…but with a tan! And messy hair! Yes!”. Bakura chuckled, “Heh, what gives you that idea?” In which Amane answered in a question, “I don’t know, why do you look like a Grumpy Tanned Ryou?”.

Bakura had no clever comeback to that and decided to try to make fun of Amane’s poorly made drawing. As he stared at the picture, he grabbed the stick from Amane and tried to fix it. “She had longer hair than that, I used to pull it when I was little.” Small hints of the shriek started to play in his mind, “She gets so angry when I do it. She used to smack me in the head everytime”. Amane felt unease at that last comment as she rubbed her head, but Bakura smiled at the memory.

The shriek was increasing its volume, but Bakura kept going, “I used to escape sometimes, I found a little oasis a few miles from home. I remember staying there for a whole week…hehehe, you should have seen her face when I went back!” Bakura laughed, the screeching sound was at its loudest, but Bakura was already remembering everything.

 

The pain from the sound was getting flooded with the happier memories that Bakura couldn’t remember before. The darkness used to keep repeating and repeating that last bit of memory of his people in an endless loop. Feeding him only the hatred and anger it needed to control him. Now the gate has been broken, and he could now access to the good times. Now he could go through all these memories that Bakura has ignored for over three thousand years…

“What was the name… of your home?”

“……….… _Kul Elna_.”

 

A door appeared in front of them and its glowing light was absorbing Bakura in. Quickly without thinking, Bakura grabbed Amane’s wrist and both get consumed in its glow.


	9. Home

Bakura opened his eyes, he saw nothing but sand everywhere. He felt a weight when he realized someone was pulling on his robe. Amane looked at him feeling confused where they were and Bakura had no answer for the child. Both were speechless as they looked around; they didn’t really know what to do over this sudden realm change. Bakura stepped forwards, Amane was holding onto his sleeves as the two walked blindly together. Suddenly, the place around them seemed to be morphing. Little by little, a transparent village was forming between the gusts of wind against the sand, becoming more real as they stepped forwards.  


 As the town became more recognizable, the people started to appear. Yet, unlike the place, the villagers’ faces stayed hollow; no eyes, no mouth, nor ears. “K-Kura…” whispered Amane, as her grip tightened around the thief’s arm. Bakura stopped walking and stepped down at eye level for Amane.

 

“You can leave if you want-“

 

“No…Bakura, look!”

 

Amane pointed at something behind Bakura. He turned around and saw from afar, a body looking at a distance, its back turned away from them. The hair is what caught Amane’s interest, since its hair was so long; it reached the figure’s knees. _It can’t be…_ Bakura thought, as he stepped slowly towards the figure. As he was only a few feet close to the person, Bakura stopped. _What if he sees another empty face? What if he’ll never remember…_

 

_“Habibi?”_

The person had turned around as Bakura looked up. He saw his mom’s face, her bright amethyst eyes staring back in shock as his. Suddenly, a quick gust of wind swept across the whole town as it became completely clear; everyone were carrying different faces and personalities. Some talked, some yelled, some whispered.

 

Amane and Kura couldn’t kept their eyes focused; their heads were moving everywhere as they caught a different person moving past them. Suddenly, his mom cleared her throat behind them, causing Bakura to turn around. His mom grabbed him by the ear and pulled, “You’re late my son.”

 

Suddenly, Amane saw the Thief King act like any ordinary kid, and tried to hold her giggles from this amusing sight.

 

“Ow ow ow, Mother I’m sorry!”

 

“Yeah, you’re sorry! We were waiting for you!”

 

 _Waiting?_ Bakura looked at his mom, confused. “I…I-I thought you all be angry at me. I-I thought… ” Bakura could not find the right words to speak. His eyes were darting in every direction, unable to kept focus as his body was shaking. Bakura took a step back, unable to keep his balance. His mother changed her temper and was now very concern over her child, turning into an entirely different person. She put both hands around the thief’s cheeks. “Oh habibi, we were. Seeing you like that…taking about ruling the whole world through Darkness…calling everyone as if we were just weak pathetic mortals…”

 

Every line from his mother was a stab on his chest, as her voice continued, “But… you’re part of us, my son. We can’t be complete without our little Thief Prince…”

 

Bakura looked at his mother, very confused for a while until he decided to correct her,

 

“Thief King.”

 

“Not when I’m around here, you aren’t!”

 

His mother put Bakura in a chokehold between her strong arms and carried the Thief Prince into the crowd. “How many times did I told you not to mess with demons and ghosts, boy? And you had to pick on the largest one…” As his mom kept nagging him all the way in the village, Amane looked over the very embarrassed-looking thief from afar.

 

“This calls for celebration!” Yelled one in the crowd, “It sure is!” responded the mother. She looked up in the clear sky and clapped her hands three times, “Night, please”. Suddenly, the sky changed color from its light blue to black, accompanied by the stars. “H-how?” Bakura asked, as wine popped out of nowhere for each individual. “This is a world specially built for us by the Gods. You can have everything your heart desires here, it is a thief’s paradise.” the mother responded as she poured a glass for her son. Bakura takes a sip, and was able to feel the nostalgic taste of the liquid.

 

“You must of been staying at a low-tier realm. Must’ve explain your… _difficulties_ into getting here.”

 

The village lights turned on, surrounding itself in torches. It caught Bakura by surprise, almost mistaking it from a different experience. Groups of people began to draw out their harps, drums, and other musical instruments. Those who didn’t know how to play relied on slapping on their bodies and singing.

 

And that’s how Bakura felt under the spell. The song had clicked in his mind, remembering every single note. He saw his mother joining in the song, her voice becoming the center force of the chorus. He slowly murmured the next lines, getting closer and closer to the group. Tears from his eyes flooded with nostalgia and cheer as he finally joined in the song.

 

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Amane felt out of place here.

She saw her playmate smiling so much; she never could have thought it was possible. She was so proud of her friend…yet she couldn’t stop her body from shaking. It caused her to look down on her hands, and saw that she was becoming transparent. Amane quickly raised her hands forwards and saw the orange lights of the village through her. She quickly grabbed herself on the shoulders, rubbing it as if she felt coldness around her.

 

The people began to raise Bakura up above their heads as he sat proudly on a chair. Everyone was chanting and singing as they raised and lowered the returned Thief King above them. The king held a golden cup and sipped the finest wine up to his lips, until something moving far across the village caught his eye. He froze up, and started to look around the ground below him for any sign of Amane.

 

Bakura signaled the men to put him down and rushed forwards. He lost track of the moving figure and he decided to move slowly as he passed each home. A cry was heard in between two houses. Kura went to investigate the gap and saw a small child sitting on the floor with its back turned. The moonlight above them was beaming down on the figure. He saw the yellow dress, the short hair, and of course, the white lotus sitting beautifully on the side of the figure’s head.

 

Bakura sighed in relief and walked towards the child. He put his hand on her shoulder and turned her around. He felt confused over his hand and fingers looked through Amane’s ghostly-like body. But as he returned his eyes on Amane…he could not see anything. Her eyes, mouth, and ears were vanished from her face. Yet, as the figure spoke in his friend’s voice, Bakura couldn’t still see her.

 

“K-Kura…”

 

The girl was shivering as she kept her nonexistent eyes fixated on Bakura’s. He was petrified on what he saw, but tried to keep control of the situation. Her voice and helpless posture reminded the thief of a similar experience he had as a young child. So instead of being frightened, he took the child’s arm and led her out of there.

 

“Come on.”

 

They were already far from the village, and Amane’s figure became less transparent as they go. Amane was looking up at the thief, who is still clutching her arm. His tousled hair was hiding his expression. “Kura?” the little girl asked and caused him to finally stop his endless walk. He crouched down and put both hands resting on Amane’s shoulders. He finally sets his eyes on the child, and saw that her face has returned. Her bright green eyes were looking worried for whatever words will the thief speak.

 

“…You need to leave.”

 

And just like that, a door appeared behind Amane. She turns around and quickly hid her eyes from the brightness of the light beaming from the door. Amane turned around to Kura, “B-But what about our mission? Didn’t you wanted to go bac-”

“I’m not going to stay long” the thief assured, as his voice became weaker. “I… _need_ this, Amane”. He took a large breath, trying to compose himself.

 

“I’ll be back.”

 

Bakura stood up and before he could turn around, Amane locked her arms around the Egyptian’s leg. He squirmed to let himself free, but Amane became persistent with her unstoppable hold.

 

“Geesh, you’re such a pain!” yelled Bakura, “Let go of me, you little brat!”

 

Amane kept her hold, wanting for the thief to admit defeat. Bakura sighed, “Look, I’ll return when I can. You just have to… _think_ of me, and I’ll appear in an instant! Isn’t that how it works?” He waited for the child to respond, as she remained silent through the situation.

 

“… _You_ have to think of me too.”

 

“And I will.”

 

Amane stopped and resumed her response in a small whisper. “…You promise?”

 

Bakura was quiet, her voice sounded so similar to him as he remembered that moment when she and Ryou last spoke… He held out his hand with his pinkie out, “I promise.” Amane giggled at this uncommon gesture that Bakura wasn’t really known for. She extended her arm as well and made the pinkie swear. She immediately stomped the thief’s foot and quickly ran towards the portal of light. “You little shit!” exclaimed Bakura, who even though it didn’t hurt, it was a very rude gesture to do to the King of Thieves.

 

Amane turned around and pointed at the thief, her cheeks puffed in anger, “You BETTER promise!” and she hopped to the other side of the door. Bakura stood up, his eyes still fixated on the door even when it vanished completely. He took a long breath and turned around as he walked back towards his home.


	10. Right Where You Left It...

Bakura woke up from his most peaceful sleep he had ever gotten. The light from the sun was beaming half of his face from the opened hole of his room. The reed matt that was his bed was rather confortable for the thief, even the images of the gods carved on it felt like he was protected during his hours of slumber.

 

He sat on the edge of the bed and made a large leap to the floor, feeling shorter than usual. Bakura started to rub his eyes and felt his clear unmarked cheeks as he did. A tall figure with beautiful strands of hair greets him with the gentlest voice, “Good morning, my son. You’ve slept well”.

 

He tried to look up at the face of the figure, but the little thief’s neck could only see half of the giant. So he grabbed a piece of the strings of hair and pulled it down to him. The good thing is, the figure bent down and her face was shown clearly to him. The bad news is that the woman was not pleased of the pull, and smacked him on the head.

 

“How many times I told you not to do that?”

 

“Ow, I’m sorry!”

 

The woman sighed and brushed her fingers at the strands of hair blocking the boy’s bright eyes. She started to gently massage the right side of the child’s cheek, as if an injury has finally been cured at last. The mother stood up and tells the young thief to go outside and play with his friends, who were waiting for him. The little kid nods in excitement and rushed towards the door. He stopped for a moment, and looked around the house for someone. His mother walked over to him and asks if the little thief was missing something. Bakura looked up, feeling very concerned.

 

“Where’s my sister…?”

 

The mother looked puzzled over her child, “You don’t have a sister, habibi. You’re an only child.” Bakura looked down, trying to remember something, _he could have swore he had a sister somewhere…_

 

“I must have smacked you on the head pretty hard this time...”

 

Bakura was pushed towards the door, quickly greeted by his young friends. “You sleep too much, you know that?” asked a young boy. “That’s not a good quality for the next Thief King you know!” exclaimed a very annoying girl. The young thief curses at the two and demanded for them to start the game already. They pointed at the far away location where they will begin to play and started a little race.

Bakura gave them a head start, confident that he would be victorious in the end. He passed by different homes until a voice stopped him from his track, “…. _’You can have everything your heart desires_ ’… isn’t that what your mother said?”

 He looked at the source of the voice and found a vagabond sleeping on the outside wall of a house. He wore a large brown cloak; none could see the appearance of this stranger, though his voice remained in the deepest of memories. Bakura was annoyed at this character, knowing fully well of his reputation. He put one fist on his side while the other points at the person, “Shut up old man, you’re dead to me, remember?” The old man laughed, his voice becoming poison for the young child. The strange figure took out a cup of wine and sipped it before continuing his ridicule at the young boy (As it was a reoccurring thing of the male).

 

“Hahaha! Boy…we’re _all_ dead. Hehehe, guess you decided not to remember that fact.”

 

The young thief was confused at the male and decided to return to his race. Yet, the man yelled his last dose of venom at the young thief from afar,

 

“HAHAHA! You’re not a young boy anymore, _son_! Stop pretending!”

 

 His words spoke nonsense, and the boy was ready to curse the man out. But the only thing he managed to do was to continue running. Never looking back at the old man, and never looking anywhere else except forwards…

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 Amane was sitting on top of Kura’s favorite hill. She’s been leaving sets of letters she got from Ryou ever since Kura left. The child’s been reading the newer letter for so many times, her eyes quickly scanning every corner of the page.

 

“No…” whispered Amane, as she read it again, “no no no no no…” She had to try harder next time, Amane thought. She has to try to connect to the other realm as soon as possible. _Kura will fix it_ , she thought, _he needs to fix this_.

 

Amane stood up and looked at the far distance of the province. She closed her eyes and pictured her friend. _Come on…please_ , she whispered as her hands clutches on her sides. The connection was weak; Amane has tried to call Kura for so many times. The only conclusion she got from this, is that Kura wasn’t picking up the call. He wasn’t thinking of her anymore…

 

She felt down on the ground, petals of flowers flew apart by her weight, as they scattered in the wind. “Kura…you promised.” The child wept, her worst fear getting to her again. She used her sleeve to clean her tears from her face and fought to stand up. She roses from the ground and closed her eyes once again. Her face was not broken anymore, now that it was changed to a determined and rather angry expression.

 

“You better pick up, YOU DUMMY!” She yelled to the air. Amane waited for a moment, trying to catch her breath. She looked forward at the purple sky and had both hands closed together on her chest.

 

_Please remember me…_


	11. Wake up

The young thief had a fight again with one of the bigger kids. His mother nagged him as she inspected the bruises on her child’s arm. Bakura couldn’t explain it; he saw the bruises and the cuts, yet he didn’t really felt any of them. He was so confused and was trying to find some sort of explanation to all of these, but hasn’t tried to ask anyone about it. As his mother came back with a cloth and wrapped it around the thief’s arm, he quickly backed away from it.

  His mother sighed, “Boy, I told you not to look for fights, why do you even pick ones that you can’t handle?” the boy was impatient and didn’t wanted to give his mother the clear answer, “ I could of taken him…” His mother proceeded to annoy him, “No you won’t. You always-“

 

_Please remember me…_

That voice again…that voice that kept repeating in his head. He didn’t know the origins of it, and couldn’t place a face. Yet, it is the only pain he could feel. And he was glad to, but the voice has kept him from thinking straight.

 

“LEAVE ME ALONE!”, yelled the young child to his mother. Before she could grab him, Bakura had fled away from his home, already far from her sight.

 

His legs kept moving automatically. He didn’t felt any tiredness as he passed miles away from the village. The sky changed to nightfall as he continued running. Suddenly, without even realizing it, he stood in the center of an oasis. It was his favorite place to hang around; being left alone and away from any troubles back at home.

 

_K-kkkk-kkkkkk-kkkk_

An almost static voice was heard in his head. It was a good change from the previous one. But it left the thief to wonder what this voice was trying to say. He walked around the oasis, finally settling on the ground next to the body of water. He saw his reflection: a young scrappy little kid with white short hair and amethyst eyes. He looks around and saw a set of colorful flowers blooming in the distance. Without any thought, the thief picked up the white one and sat again next to the pond.

 

_K-kkk-kkk-kkk-kkkk_

The voice became louder this time, which was strong enough to cause the water to ripple. The reflection of the thief became blurry and caused him to look at a different person. It was a light skin child with almost pure short white hair, who carried a large flower over its head.

 

_K-k-kkk-Kuuuuraaaaa!_

The voice was getting closer; the water was starting to shake uncontrollably. Suddenly, a body merged from the water and tackled the young boy to the ground. He stood up and looked over a young child resting on the ground next to him. As he tried to poke her, Amane soon recovered and looked to the other child.

 

“Kura!”

 

The girl quickly attacked the boy with a hug. It took the young thief off guard and was blushing from the sudden affection from this odd-looking kid.

 

“Oh my God, what happened to you? You’re so cute!”, Amane put her hand over the thief’s head and compared it to hers, “Hey, we’re the same height!” Amane started to laugh, but the thief was left puzzled of this stranger.

 

“Who are you?”

 

The girl’s expression suddenly changed. She was going to utter a word but stopped in her tracks. She waited for a moment until finally giving out her answer.

 

“Am…M..M-My name is Kura.”

 

“Do you often yell out your name, Kura?”

 

“Shut your face!”

 

The thief started to laugh at his new friend, as she gave out a weird expression with her puffed cheeks. He wanted to ask a curious question to the girl,

 

“Hey, why is your face pale?”

 

“Why is your face such a pain?”

 

The little Thief Prince couldn’t win against this commoner and pushed her to the ground.

 

He immediately thought he has been staying in the Oasis for far too long and walked to head back. Amane was behind him, looking over Bakura as he stepped on the edge of the cliff of the Oasis. Amane soon joined him and gazed forwards. She could see the thief’s village from afar. The people had begun to set up the torches and lit the whole village beautifully in yellows and oranges. She turned to the thief and saw him staring at the fire, standing there speechless.

 

_Fire…Burning…Gold…Spirits…_

A different image of the village has taken over the child’s mind. His town was burning in the distance with countless screams. The shriek was overtaking the thief’s mind as the thief crippled down to the ground. As the child dropped to his knees, a red robe appeared out of the air to shelter its owner. Amane was left in shock to see the former Thief King back into his true form.

 

“…Why are you here, Amane?”

 

Amane was lost in her words; it took her a while to process her sentences.

 

“Y-you was missing for…I-I couldn’t reach you. You weren’t…”

 

She paused. There has been so much to tell, yet Amane couldn’t get any words out of her mouth. So instead she took out five letters from her and gave it to Bakura. He took the opened letters and scanned them quickly one by one.

 

“Ryou’s been writing to me. He’s been feeling sick and…and he refuses to sleep because of the nightmares and…”

 

Bakura remained unimpressed, and took a long stare at the letters again, “Only five…so I’ve been here for a month then. I’m sure whatever he’s having it’ll pass soon.”

 

Amane stared over her odd friend and tried to correct him, “N-no Kura, these aren’t all of them. You’ve been here for almost a year”.

 

_“WHAT?”_

_His time here only felt as if a month has passed but…a year? He’s been dead for over 2 years now? What was Ryou doing all this time? A-and Marik, what could this idiot been doing without him?!_

 

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

“I’m leaving.”

 

Bakura was in the middle of another feast of his village. The song was already playing its charm. His mother stood in front of him, “Habibi…your place is with us… the Gods have-“

 

“The Gods made a mistake!”

 

Bakura took a deep breath and keept his eyes on the floor below him, “I shouldn’t have made it here. I don’t deserve it. I don’t deserve... _THIS_. I should have been vanished…” He stared at his mom with determine eyes, “ I don’t belong here, so I shall return to the Living instead.” His mother started to laugh at her son’s boldness, which took the thief by surprise. She placed her hands on the Thief King’s shoulders, “Alright then, go.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“You were always so stubborn, my child. I can never change your mind.” His mother embraced him for one last hug, “We will always wait for you here, my child”. Both exchange a melancholy smile at each other and Bakura walked away from the feast. He was given farewells from his people and friends as he passed them. He was feet away from the exit of the town, until a man grabbed him from his sleeve and pulled him down halfway.

 

The old man with the brown cloak whispered some words to the Thief King. Bakura kept no eye contact, but as the stranger finished his sentence, his eyes lit up. He glared at the vagabond, who kept grinning at the young thief. Unfortunately, Bakura didn’t return the same expression.

 

“You knew that…and you didn’t tell me?!”

 

“I wanted to tell the Thief King…not a stupid brat.”

 

As Bakura left the old man and the village behind, he could still hear the mocking laughter of the elderly man as his voice sank in the distance. Amane was there waiting for Bakura. She gave her friend a confused look, curious to know what that old man was telling Kura about.

 

He gazed at her as if he could read her mind and grinned,

 

“Want to see me challenge a God?”

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

_A stained letter rests inside the thief’s clothing. Its page remained crumpled up and the edges tainted in black. The writing seemed poorly made and many sentences were scratched out and left behind by its owner:_

_Amane._

_I don’t know if you’re actually there._

_If you’re even reading this. I_

_They went to check up on me. Yugi and the others. I guess they noticed my lack of sleep these past few days. Okay, months but…the dreams just keep repeating over and over again. I don’t want to see any of it. They’re not even mine! I_

_They found out I was writing you letters. They said you’re dead, and I know that. But Tristan said it isn’t healthy for me to keep writing every single week to you. The others tried to hide it, but I can feel they agreed. I know they are looking out for me. They are my friends and care about me. But I have to do it. I promised you that…_

_I thought Marik understood, which I guess he does. But when I asked him about this, he just said “If it makes you happy, do it”. I_

_I don’t know you’re there._

 

_I don’t know what I brought myself into. I don’t know why I am writing this. I guess it has really been for myself. I guess all of this was to myself. It was my fault. I should of have been there when you_

_This might be the last letter I get to write. But in the chance that this does reach to you, if you’re actually there…I love you. And I_

_I’m sorry._


	12. The Challenge

_“You can do it, Kura!”  
_

 

_Cheered Amane from behind the thief, who unlike his friend, was nervous and impatient._

 

_“Stop distracting me!”_

 

_His hand was gripping at the clay-made dice on his hand. He kept shaking it one more time for luck, as the Dungeon Master waited on the other side of the game table._

 

* * *

 

Both Amane and the Thief King were wandering around the fields until Kura stopped. He grinned at the confused child and asked her an already answered question, “Tell me Amane, how does trading _these_ work?” Amane stared at the rocks that they’ve been collecting on the palm of the thief’s hand. Amane tried to think hard at the question, trying to remember what her mother taught her.

 

“Hmm…well, you exchange it with other people’s rocks. Some are more rarer than others…”

 

The Thief King nodded and kept smiling as he gestured to the child to continue.

 

“And…?”

 

“Well, eventually you trade it with other people who have cooler stuff we don’t see here. Like my flower! But…I saw another guy with a yo-yo once… _I wanted to steal it”._

 

“And where did you think he got that?”

 

The girl tried to think too much for an answer inside her miniature head. Her face was so amusing to the thief. He finally gave up on torturing the child and answered it for her.

 

“Well, it turns out there’s a God who gives out these items. In exchange, they are challenged to game with him. Then they trade off the prize for other things another person won. Eventually, people began to pay things with these rocks. And that’s how humans created currency even after death!”

 

The thief laughed at his own amusement, but Amane was rather puzzled. He cleared his throat and continued to speak.

 

“Anyways, that’s what the old man was telling me. Apparently I have to think on three things in my mind to get the door open.”

 

“You’re gonna win, right?”

 

The Thief King scuffed as he crossed his arms, “Of course.”

 

He took a few steps forwards and closed his eyes.

 

_Golden Bird… Crescent Moon… Ancient Scrolls._

As he thought of those items orderly, another door of light opened in front of them. Bakura stepped forward to go into the door until he stopped to see Amane left behind. “Well?” the thief asked, and Amane’s face lit up as she skipped to the thief and took hold onto his sleeve. Now both of them stood towards the door and hopped to the other side in synch.

 

* * *

 

_“I’m waiting…”_

Said the God as Bakura was at his last turn; he managed to get critical hits almost all the way through the game. Though, he had to keep the game believable, thinking the same tactics won’t fool a God like him. So he had to roll numbers like a 42 or a 54 occasionally, but still tried his old tricks on getting 00, a critical hit.

 

Still Bakura sweated, he didn’t know that the God he had to challenge was Thoth, whose body is human but its head an ibis. He sat on the other end on a red cushion, surrounded with countless scrolls. Even when playing the game, Bakura caught him scribbling on a papyrus sheet on his turns. Yet, as Bakura managed to cheat on impossible situations, he found Thoth writing less and less, his eyes becoming more engaged on the game.

 

When the thief faced Thoth, the figure’s eyes remained hidden within the Dungeon Master’s rulebook made of golden tablets. He felt odd being on this side of the table. He was so used to being in charge of the campaign and setting up the heroes’ traps and monsters. Setting up the adventure for them to fall…But now, he’s _them_ … _the_ _hero…the protagonist_ and the title stung his tongue at the thought of it.

 

Bakura looked over his hand, still shaking for his last roll. The little Thief King figurine was standing next to a similar Thoth figure, the final boss. _If he doesn’t get a critical, he’ll lose the game. And he will lose his only chance to get back to the Living._

 

“DICE ROLL!”

           


	13. Wish

 It was working; the die stoked the other perfectly as it span. Still, the thief could not draw victory from his lips just yet, as his eyes remained fixated on the dice.

 

The first die: 0

 

Thoth’s bird eyes squinted at the outcome. Its head was moving quickly as each of his eyes focused on the last die. And just as the second die finished its spin, the number glew in a big circle in the middle of the board.

 

_00 a Critical Hit._

Bakura leaned back against the stone chair and stretched his leg to rest on top of the table. He crossed his arms and declared his victory, all while making the biggest grin across his face.

 

_“You beaten me fairly, human. And for that, you’ll get your reward.”_

From his side, Amane was trying to contain her laughter. She knew the story about how Bakura’s little cheating trick works. What’s more, she occasionally was the one to thump the table in order for the dice to hit each other. Bakura nudged her with his elbow, signaling her to hold on the laughter. But Amane nudged him back, seeing as Bakura was too, unable to stop grinning from the biggest cheat made in the whole universe.

           

_“Here you are.”_

 

Thoth handed out a red ticket with the words _Admit One_ written in the center of the paper.

 

_“One ticket to the Living. Though…it is rather foolish for someone to leave this Paradise…”_

The thief held onto the ticket, and faced up to the God. He shrugged, “Yeah, well you guys made a shitty mistake in bringing me here anyways”. The God chuckled as he picked up his brush and started to begin his endless paperwork,

 

_“That we did. I still can’t believe a thief like you managed to balance the scales from such crimes.”_

Bakura was about to leave until he was stopped by the God’s words. Thoth held out the two dice for Bakura to hold,

 

_“One last thing, throw this for me.”_

Bakura scuffed and snatched up the dice. Without caring, he tossed the dice across the table with ease.

 

_99_

 

Seeing as he won, he didn’t really cared about the worst number on the board. Yet, the God asked for the thief to throw it again. Bakura shrugged one more time and felt strange when he threw yet another 99. Time and time again, Bakura threw the dice, and even tried his old trick. 99 was still the number printed on the dice.

 

 _“These are special dice, young thief,”_ exclaimed the God as he grabbed the dice away from Bakura. _“Whatever number it rolls represents the soul of the user. Cheap tricks did not got you far, but your determination that was reflected within the die”._

 

Bakura thought it was some sort of joke from the God and gave a puzzled glare, “Don’t tell me…Heart of the Dice?” Thoth chuckled at the thief’s words and continued his explanation.

 

_“When a human steps into my realm and faced by my presence, their confidence lowers and such, his odds of winning. These dice tells me much more about a human based the number they throw. And there has never been a human that beaten me. And yet, I cheaply rewarded those who prove close in victory.”_

The God rose from his cushion and stood up close to the thief. Bakura’s head was unable bent his neck back enough to see the whole face of the God.

 

_“You’re right, young thief. You were never chosen to be here, and we have made a mistake. So know this: You will go back to the Living once more. Judgment will be put upon you a second try on your death. And we will watch if your own soul will be enough to grant you access to Paradise once more.”_

Thoth held out the two dice again to Bakura and clutched it within his fist. Crackling noise of the dice was heard inside like broken bones. The God opened his hand and the dust of the remaining dice swirled around until it turned into a golden bright orb.

 

_“And that means your own soul…”_

 

The soul that stood in front of him was very different from the last time Bakura saw it as. This soul was brighter…even larger than the pebbled-like appearance of its previous form. Bakura extended his hands below the soul and was now floating gently above his palms. He held it up close and the orb moved within the thief. A splendor of light surrounded the thief as the soul settled within its vessel. Bakura could feel his blood moving around him. He was feeling things that he couldn’t feel before. He wasn’t a ghost anymore. Nor felt as if he was in Ryou’s body.

 

He was his own.

 

Suddenly, a tug was pulling on his sleeve, causing the thief to lose his focus. Amane was hidden below the table, “What does mine look like? I want it to be purple.”

 

Thoth laughed at the young child and crouched down as best as he could get. He patted the girl’s head with one of his enormous fingers as to not crush the child. _“My apologies, I forgot about our little spectator here. You’ve been very entertaining through the whole game, my dear child. Tell me…is there anything you desire?”_

_No…._ Bakura thought _. Is he serious? Will he be able to grant anything for Amane? But then…what would Amane wish for? Will she…no._ Bakura could not let his mind to wander about the possibilities made from his new soul. Yet, it betrayed him as he pictured Amane back in the arms of his previous forsaken Host.

_“There you are, my child.”_

Amane grabbed on the new set of crayons marked, _100% eternal_ and hugged it as she cradled left and right with her new found treasure.

“Thank you Bird Man! I love you!”

 

Bakura was in shock at Amane’s wish as he followed her waving goodbye at the God as she leaves.

 

“Come on, Fluffy!” yelled Amane to the unmovable Kura. While frozen, Bakura still managed to walk one foot over the other until he reached Amane. She grabbed the slow moving Bakura’s hand and pulled him to go faster. Thoth waved back at the cute child as they exited the God’s temple.


	14. Acceptance

Amane was skipping in the fields that they returned to. She was singing a childish tune with her new set of magical crayons high above her head. Yet, Bakura could not still process on the mistake that the child had made.

 

_“Why did you bloody wished for THAT!?”_

 

Amane stopped her singing and turned to the thief in a confusing stare. Bakura had his eyes on the ground, trying to come up with words in which to express his rage without making any curses or such words that he did not wanted to yell out to the child.

 

“You-You idiot! You could have…you could have return to Ryou!”

 

Amane’s expression suddenly changed. She was silent and her face was already prepared for Bakura’s anger. She was not facing him as a child anymore, and her eyes were more matured than of the thief’s shattered face.

 

“And you wished for some pathetic crayons?! FUCK!”

 

Bakura turned his back away from the child, all while still trying to find the right words for his anger.

 

“The bloody bastard misses you…and you just…”

 

Bakura backed away from cursing at the last line, and stood there in silence. Amane walked closer to the thief, whose head tried to face away from the girl. She grabbed the sleeve on Kura’s crimson robe and pulled it gently to help her balance. She was acting as if an invisible layer of mask has been lifted from the child. She let Bakura stay there in silence until he was ready to talk. But Bakura’s frustration remained intact, and relied on Amane to calm the thief.

 

“I’ve been dead for too long, Kura…”

 

Bakura finally snapped out of his anger and turned slowly to the girl. Her head was staring the grassy ground beneath her feet. She started to play with her fingers, as she tried to continue,

 

“I… _we_ accept our death here. A-and I love it here…my grandma, my aunt and uncles, my mom…they are all here with me”.

 

A voice within Bakura’s mind replayed the God’s lines: … _it is rather foolish for someone to leave this Paradise…_

Amane held her hands together and locked it down on her chest, “ My time in the Living is over Kura…But, we’ll see each other soon. Ryou… Marik… they will all be here eventually. And we’ll play together then.”

 

Kura turned his head away from the child once more, his eyes enduring any pain that he was feeling in this new body. He could feel his heartbeat again, not of his Host’s, but his own. _Each beat hurting more than the previous one._

 

“But Kura…Promise me you’ll write to me too? I-I mean, not because you have to…only when you feel like writing to me. Please tell Ryou that too.”

 

Kura sighted and waved his hand dismissively, “Alright, fine! Whatever…” Amane smiled at the thief, “Really? You’ll do that for me?”. Kura nodded away and Amane tackled him in yet another sappy hug.

 

“Thank you, Kura!”

 

The thief growled in response, not feeling much like talking through all of this. He again had his arms not doing anything, but he managed to raise one of them enough to pet the child’s head. Though, he did it in a way that he didn’t want it to care.

 

A small voice inside the hug whispered in almost a frighten tone,

 

“So you’ll be leaving now?”

 

The thief looked at Amane and raised the ticket of the Living. Bakura sighed and hid the ticket in his pocket.

 

“We could do one quick heist, I’m sure your brother can handle it for a few hours.”

 

 


	15. Good Bye

As the thief rested his head under the tree , he felt a kick on the stomach. Kura jumped from the newly felt pain and opened his eyes to see a very angry Amane in front of him. As Kura stared at the child in a death glare, Amane too gives her own, “Big bro hasn’t written to me yet.”

 

Kura sighed and mockingly tried to upset the child even more, “Maybe he grew up, and doesn’t need to write you anymore”. Amane kicked him again, this time Kura grins at the little attempt of the young child to cause him pain. He finally stood up from his spot and took a few steps forwards. He searched within his pocket and raised the ticket high above him.

 

As much as Kura was eager to return to the Living, he still felt unease to leave just yet. But he could see in Amane’s eyes that she really wanted him to check up on Ryou. And it was true, Ryou hasn’t been writing to her for weeks. The last letter they received was oddly enough… _blank_.

 

Kura felt something pushing him from behind, “Come on you lazy ass, goooo”. The child managed to move the thief herself for a couple of inches, which amused the thief as he laughed at her attempt. “What’s the matter? Got bored of me already?” grinned Bakura. Amane still tried to push him further as her words began to stumble, “You wish! Come on, mooooveee! You.Can’t.Delay.This.Any...More!”

 

Amane stopped and tried to catch her breath. Kura stood down and stared at Amane, who hasn’t really been making much eye contact with the thief lately. He could see traces of liquid running from her face, he thought it was sweat drops from the push. Her breathing changed, each almost as if it was trying to not escape from her throat. Kura raised his hand and adjusted Amane’s hair to be rested to her side. Now he saw Amane crying as her tears dropped from her eyes. The thief spoke to her quietly, “Hey”. As she heard her friend’s voice, Amane finally sets her eyes to Kura’s.

 

“Alright, I’ll leave. Happy?”

 

The girl didn’t managed to find an answer to the thief, but he was already moving across the field. Amane quickly ran to catch up to Kura as he stood in the center of the massive landscape, surrounded by countless flowers. Kura stared at the ticket at hand and took a deep breath. He held the ticket high above the sky as the piece of paper glew in a white light. The sky changed its static purple color and towards a darker blue-ish view. A lighting crashed down to Kura as the ticket created a large orb around him. The air began to move uncontrollably as the petals of all colors swirls around the Egyptian until they settle on a rhythm of which to follow. Amane tried to hold her ground and shielded her eyes with her arms as much as she could. Her yellow dress and the ribbon from her neck were blowing against the gust of the storm.

 

As Amane felt the wind stopping, she opened her eyes. The sky was still dark and as she lowered her sight, she saw Bakura standing in front of the newly white glowing door. Kura was petrified at the sight, his eyes widened at the ominous beams of light. _Just on the other side, he’ll go back. He could see Marik and Ryou again, and just catch up on all the years he has missed. And find out what these two idiots been doing without him._

“Kura?”

 

The thief turned his head and saw Amane behind him, tugging his crimson robe. Bakura gave out a long sigh, unprepared and inexperienced on the situation.

 

“Well…so long I guess”

 

Disappointed by the poorly done farewell, Amane jumped to hug Kura, locking her arms so tight around the thief’s waist. Bakura stood there looking away until Amane could release him; already he has become so familiar with this child’s antics.

 

“Kura?”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“…Remember that time you almost dropped me off the hill?”

 

Kura snickered at the memory, but Amane continued, “You were scary there, I mean…the letters that Ryou sent me of you always sounded so scary. But...well, seeing you now…you just don’t seem to be that guy…”

 

Bakura remained silent and let Amane continue.

 

“I just…I’ve been meaning to ask you…what… _changed_ you?”

 

Amane waited for a response, as Kura too wondered at that. His lips parted into a weak smile as he suddenly wrapped both arms around Amane. She was shocked by her friend’s unpredictable gesture, seeing as he never returns them. “Don’t know…” he replied, “Maybe it was from reading your effing fanfics”.

 

Amane giggled, knowing fully well that isn’t the real answer, “Language!” Bakura grinned, “What? I said eff, that’s PG enough for you!” Amane made little punches on Bakura’s stomach as she told him to shut up while laughing with the thief.

 

Bakura was the first to stop as he stared at Amane, who was still unable to settle on her laugher.

  

Kura finally released the child and took a few steps close to the portal, he turned to Amane, “Well, so long Princess. Keep this place fun for me, alright? So you better stay in trouble.” Amane grasped both hands on each side of her dress and made a little bow, “Yes, my King”. The two giggled like idiots until Kura took a red ribbon from his sleeve, “Oh, and I’m keeping this.” Amane quickly looked down and placed her hand on her neck, “HEY!” The thief smirked as he points down almost to the ground. Amane lower her sight and realized one of the Thief King’s gold bracelets resting on her wrist. She didn’t felt any weight or anything when he placed it there.

 

Before she could raise her head up again, she heard the door booming, half of Kura’s body already leaving to the other side. Amane could not hold out any longer than she could. She let her tears fall down on command, finally able to release the pain she’s been keeping, “KURA!”. The body of the thief stopped and his head popped out from the door. Amane gulped, trying to open her throat enough to yell out her last words,

 

“You’ll remember me, right?!”

 

The body of the thief remained unmoved for a brief second. The arm from outside the door slowly rose up and gave a thumbs-up to the child. The face of the thief managed to spread a smile to Amane one last time.

 

He could see the wind from the force of the door making Amane’s hair to move gently. Her yellow dress was glowing brighter from the reflection of the light. Gently, the white lotus resting on the side of her head moved peacefully as the child smiled back to the thief.

 

Kura submerged more within the light, as it began glow even brighter. Amane kept waving her arms back and forth, never stopping. And in a blink of an eye, the door closed. The sky was setting up to its purple hues as it restored its image.

 

* * *

 

Even with the door gone, Amane stared at the same spot. She kept her smile and still waiting just in case the thief might prank her. Just far behind, a woman’s voice called out her name, “Amane!”

 

The girl turned around for the source of the sound, she grinned in excitement as she looked at the figure, “Mom!” The mother crouched down just in time for her daughter to hug her tightly, “Amane, what were you doing here all alone?”Amane looked again at the site where the door had vanished. She smiled and turned to her mother, “Oh, I was just…”

 

_Saying goodbye to a friend…._

As Bakura walked to the other end of the hall of white, he gripped the red ribbon tightly on his side. As he walked, he could feel his feet getting farther apart from the ground, his whole body now floating forwards. The body of the thief was becoming transparent, until an aura of white surrounded him. Just at a distance, another door appeared and a force within him launched the thief forwards at incredible speed.

 

As he blinked, he found himself surrounded with a clear blue sky. He tried to look at his hands, but he soon realized that his whole body was merged with the light. If someone were to look up, they could have simply dismissed it as a shooting star, or an airplane passing by.

 

At top speed, Bakura passed mountains, deserts, forests, cities… Everywhere he turned, he found a bit of reminiscence within things he never hold any value to. The rivers, the grassy green hills, and even the sun, fascinated the thief as his body flew away. Kura closed his eyes as the current took him, not caring where he will go.

 

* * *

 

 

_Bakura opened his eyes. His ears were ringing over the sound of traffic and distant voices. He was standing in front of a door. The thief felt a familiar sense of the place; it shocked him as he tried to look around for something to prove him wrong. But he knew very well where he was:_

_Ryou’s apartment._


	16. Loose Ends

Bakura never planned ahead, that part he knew best. He always let everything just move around him, letting the current take with him. Letting his so-called-plans just put themselves together by mere coincidence or foolishness. Never had he ever wanted to think so far ahead, as if he really didn't wanted to see what's on the other end. Yet, as his hand floated inches away from knocking at the door, the thief hesitated. _Did the current took him there? Or did he chose to be here?_

 

He stared at his feet frozen on the concrete floor, thinking that he could just… _go._ He could just leave and start over…a new life and a new identity. But the thief thought that would mean forgetting _this_ one as well: Forget facing his previous Host, of all the pain and damage he caused. Not witness what life Marik has obtained without him…

The wind swept gently as the clothes of the thief brushed against it. The red ribbon tied on his wrist became loose and flew away. Kura managed to catch it just in time, and a sweet quiet voice played within his head,

 

_You'll remember me, right?_

 

Bakura let out a small chuckle; his first seconds of being alive and the child still managed to bother him. He took a deep breath as he kept his eyes on the door once more. _Fuck it_ , he thought as he reached his hand to knock _._ But just as he knocked it gently once, he heard a creak. The door opened itself, as the light behind Bakura illuminated part of the almost empty-looking house.

 

Bakura looked around, creepiness felt down his spine as he saw no sight of his ex-landlord. Yet, all he could see was the old furniture kept the same through all the years. The only difference was the many boxes resting on the living room. Suddenly, he heard a crash on the other room, "OW!" a voice yelled. The thief rushed over and saw his Host on the floor surrounded with items that has fallen from the closet. Somehow the box carrying the stuff landed on the poor boy's head. The thief sighed at the usual clumsiness that is his Host, as he crouched down next to the kid. He grinned at the perfect situation Ryou set up for him, feeling very nostalgic as he asked,

 

"Having problems, dear Host? Maybe I can help~"

 

Ryou's body frozed in place. Yet as his hands moved to lift up the box from his face, Kura felt an impulse to just push him and run away. Yet, they both stayed in place as they both stared at one another. Bakura saw dark circles around sweet Ryou's eyes, and his body was a bit thin. His hair was normally a mess, but today it was like a cobweb of disaster. It angered the thief; he had been maltreating Ryou's body for his own needs. But to see him being in a worst shape on his own accords?

 _How much did you eat? Why are you like this? What happened to you? What are you doing to yourself?!_ These were the thing the thief wanted to ask, yet the only words that came out were,

 

"You look like shit."

 

Still no response from Ryou, his eyes just kept staring at the thief's. The shock must have been too much for him, Bakura realize that. He really didn't planned ahead; the poor boy must of thought that he was there to take over his life again!

But as Ryou blinked back to reality, he finally spoke. "Spirit? Is…is that you?" Bakura stumbled to answer as he tried to pick himself up, "Yes. Who else?" The thief crossed his shoulders and looked away in a bored gesture. But inside, we was eagerly waiting for his Host to respond,

 

"You're…you're just… _short_ though."

 

"…W-WHAT? I'm not-"

 

Ryou started to giggle as he stood up. Bakura followed him as they compare their heights…unfortunately, he was right. Ryou kept laughing, as the thief became more flustered, "Shut your face, Ryou!" The host kept laughing until he felt a pain on his arm.. As Ryou rubbed his injury, he could see Bakura looking over it, almost feeling concern about him. He felt something was very odd on the Spirit, "You called me Ryou..."

 

"Well, that's your name, isn't?"

 

Ryou kept staring at the thief, feeling almost hesitant for what he was about to do next. He hugged Bakura, keeping his face hidden from the spirit as he rests it below the thief. Bakura could felt his host shaking as he whispered, "You should have told me…"

After he recovered from the shock-induced hug, Bakura looked down, his chin almost resting on top of Ryou's soft hair. He lied, "About what?"

" _Zorc_ ", Ryou answered a name that stabbed Bakura's throat. A name he never would have imagined being said from his Host's mouth. "And about your village, I…I shouldn't have seen it in _dreams_ , Spirit. You should of have-" Ryou stopped as he swallowed his breath, "It…it wasn't your fault." Ryou kept his head buried on the front of the thief's robe. Bakura sighed, letting his words speak on their own, "It _was_ my fault, Ryou."

"I wasn't some poor soul controlled by some evil puppeteer, Host! I had…I _chose_ to follow them. I let Zorc's influences get to me. I _chose_ to let myself hurt _you_."

Ryou looked up; the thief's eyes were hidden between barriers of hair. "I never fought back, Ryou. Not like you, anyways." Ryou took his hand up and brushed away part of the thief's hair. He saw his eyes looking away from him. "But you came back, didn't you? He didn't. You're here." The thief chuckled, always amused by his host's pursuit of optimism. Ryou continued, "How did you even managed to come back?" The thief kept his amusement, "Long story. You have a pen?"

 

"Um..what? Sure but-"

 

"And some paper?"

 

"What is this about, Spirit?"

 

Bakura slammed his hand on the writing desk in the room, "Get to writing." Ryou still didn't understand but played along by sitting on the chair. Bakura managed to give out a hint to his host,

 

"Write to her."

 

Ryou was shocked for a moment, but as he turned to the thief, he answered,

 

"Spirit…these letters…they aren't-"

 

"They reach her."

 

"…What?"

 

Bakura took something inside his sleeve. He gave out a closed letter to Ryou labeled:

 

_To Ryou-chan_

_From Amane_

 

Ryou's hand shook as he grasped the letter, the other hiding his mouth in disbelief. Bakura repeated the words for his Host and to himself.

 

"They reach her."

 

* * *

 

Ryou was scribbling the last address on the letter, "From Ryou and…"

"Kura."

Ryou turned around and saw the thief looking over, his face too close in his personal space, "What?"

 

"That's my name now."

 

"That's…not that very creative"

 

"Fuck you, Host. It's my name!"

 

Ryou chuckled as he found out that he had stroke a nerve on the Thief King. Kura backed away, "You should be glad, Ryou. I just stole half of your name". Ryou kept smiling and pointed out, "It's not really stealing if I let you borrow it." Kura glared at Ryou, shocked at the discovery of that loophole.

 

"Shit!"

 

"You got to stop cussing like that-"

 

"Fuck you! I have been living 2 years trying to keep it PG for your sweet little sister, Ryou!"

 

"3 year."

 

"…Three?"

 

"3."

 

"FUCK! SHIT! FUCK!"

 

"Oh my God!"

 

* * *

 

Today it was a clear sunny day, the cherry blossoms were booming as Kura and Ryou were standing in front of a stoneplate. _FLICK!_ Ryou opened a lighter as Kura held the letter above. As the flames spread out on the paper, Kura rested it above the stone engraved:

 

_Amane Bakura_

 

The two boys remained quiet as they waited for the fire to completely run its course. The ashes were floating high above towards the sky. Ryou was the first to speak,

 

"She's happy, right?"

 

"Too happy, if you ask me…"

 

Ryou looked over at the thief, whose eyes were still set on the stone. Ryou sighed as he stared at the grave with him, "You know this makes it official now, right?" Bakura turned to Ryou, confused. He continued, "We're sharing the same sister now".

 

"And that means what…?"

 

Ryou patted him on the shoulder, "Welcome to the family, Kura!"

 

Kura was left standing there petrified. As Ryou smiled, Kura could not still process the idea of being in a family again. And not wanting to get into the sappy moment, Kura looked away and decided to remind Ryou, "We're visiting Marik after this, right?"

"Hehehe, of course!" Ryou answered, only to be whispering: _Though, we haven't spoken in months_ … Bakura chose not to ask any follow up questions, if something was going on between these two, he would want to hear it from his idiot.

"Alright then," Kura spoke with a sinister grin, "Let's scare the shit out of him".

 

* * *

 

A knock was heard outside of Marik's apartment door. He decided to ignore it, just like he did with countless others. However, he heard the knocks getting louder and louder with a voice shouting,

"MARIK! It is I, BAKURA! I have return from the Dead and have obtained my own body now!"

Marik dropped everything that he was doing,

" No.Frigging.WAY!"

Marik rushed to the door, "BAKURA?" He saw nothing; he turned left and right and saw no sight of his old partner. A voice was heard below his chin, "Down here, you idiot!"

 

"Holy Ra! YOU'RE TINY!"

 

"SHUT UP AND KISS ME!"

 

"WHAT? NO!"

 

Marik rushed to the kitchen as Kura let himself in, "Come on, Marik! I have to end this story with a bit of thiefshipping! It's what Amane would of want!"

 

"Who the EFFF is Amane?!"

 

Marik proved to be the annoying brat as he remembers. Kura stopped his little chase and sat down on the kitchen table. "Come on, you owe me one."

 

"At least buy me dinner first…"

 

"Fuck you, Ishtar!"

 

"Hehehe", Marik laughed as he moved a bit more closer to the thief. His eyes were sharper and kind of mature-looking than what Bakura remembers. It was actually a bit sexier…which he thought it was impossible to outdo. Marik leaned over closer as Bakura backed inches away. He couldn't move anymore, if he backs away even more, his body would of crash on the hard kitchen counter top. Yet, part of him really wanted him to lean forward, if not by his petrified, blood-rushed body of his.

Just as their lips were almost inches away from touching, Marik whispered one last word to the thief,

 

"…Dinner first."

 

And with that, Marik left the flushed confused Kura on the kitchen counter. Marik rushed at the door as Bakura managed to get back to his senses and started to chase after the blonde.

 

"MARIK, YOU IDIOT! GET BACK HERE!"

 

* * *

 

Ryou was sitting at his writing desk with a letter in hand. He had already read it, but that didn't stopped him to do it again. He remembered that he had to set up the game board again. After Kura came back, they spent countless nights just playing Monster World so many times. Bakura was hesitant at first, but Ryou persisted they play something both of them could enjoy.

Still, Ryou stopped setting up the game to read the letter one more time. Each reading was accompanied with his smile as he heard his sister's voice recorded within the piece of paper.

_Dear Ryou-Chan,_

_I'm okay._

_It's so lovely here! Mom and I can't stop exploring this place, it's so BIG! We've been collecting so many flowers here. Kura was a really grumpy guy, you weren't kidding! But don't let his looks fool you. He's actually a very soft kitty. Oh and also, this isn't the only letter. Knowing Kura, he might have hidden the others from you. I guess he'll give you one each week. There are drawings in them too! Kura says I suck, but mom tells me I'm awesome!_

_Oh! Remind Kura to write me as soon as you get this. He's been having a very lazy attitude lately. So don't feel alarm if he keeps sleeping the entire day. Mom is mad at you from not taking good care for yourself. So you better feel good again! Or else!_

_Many hugs and kisses!_

 

_Love,_

_Amane-chan!_

 

_Ps: It's not your fault._

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that 's the end. Thank you guys for reading these short chapters about Kura and Amane. This was my first multi-chaptered fic and I was glad to have finally give a sweet conclusion.  
> Many big thanks to Lily-liegh, whose reviews just helped me a lot in improving the story better than it was, and the many other reviews over at Fanfiction.net. Even if the fic was already done, you made me to look over them again and just made them far better than it was. Thank you!  
> Also thanks to Sitabethel. Your stories is what inspired me to try writing in the first place. And your fic with that just one chapter with Amane and Bakura inspired this story to exist in the first place.


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